JOHOR BARU: Johor remains a top choice for investors in the country due to its ability to create an investment and industries ecosystem that fulfils the criteria of foreign and domestic investors, says Johor exco member Lee Ting Han (pic).

The Johor Investment, Trade and Consumer Affairs Committee chairman said that this included providing high-quality and skilled manpower, utilities, enough land space and good infrastructures such as ports and well-managed basic amenities.

“This has not only supported the development and high-tech manufacturing industry, but also proves that Johor has the capability to facilitate and realise mega investment projects,” he added.

“Some of this investment includes Insulet Corporation from the United States, which has set up their own medicine device factory, which is the Omnipod Insulin Management System,” he said in a statement here on Saturday (Sept 3).

GDS Holdings Ltd, Bridge Data Centres, ByteDance System from China and YTL Power International Bhd from Malaysia have also set up their large-scale data centres in Johor, besides South Korea’s SPC Group, which developed their manufacturing centre in Johor for the Southeast Asian and Western markets, he added.

Lee also shared that the Wiwynn Corporation from Taiwan has also set up a facility that produces printed circuit boards (PCB).

“By having such investment in the state, the government is confident in being able to attract more investors in the digital, medical device, advanced manufacturing, and downstream industries.

“This is in line with the National Investment Aspiration (NIA) that focuses on attracting foreign investors to the country by improving our research and development and new technology.

“These investments will also create new high-skilled job opportunities, which will improve the local talent’s competitiveness,” he said, adding that the political stability gained after the recent state election has given the government a chance to come up with investor-friendly policies and development.

This includes the Kulai Fast Lane that was introduced by the Kulai Municipal Council (MPKu) to help ease the process of getting approval for projects in the planned industry, he added.

“This will be emulated by other local councils under the Johor Fast Lane initiative, which has been previously introduced by Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi,” said Lee.

The state government also welcomes the initiative taken by the Digital Investment Office (DIO) under the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) and Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (Mdec) to create a unique business climate to attract more data centre investment into the state, he added.

Earlier, Onn Hafiz reported that Johor recorded the highest investment figure in the country in the first half of the year with RM60.9bil worth of investment, an increase of 822% compared with the corresponding period in 2021.

Onn Hafiz also said the manufacturing sector continues to attract foreign investments with RM6.7bil recorded, while the primary sectors—distribution, transportation, and logistics—registered RM30mil.